The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Abelia plant botanically known as Abelia×grandiflora and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Abelops’. ‘Abelops’ is an ornamental flowering shrub grown for landscape and container use.
The new Abelia cultivar is a naturally-occurring sport of Abelia×grandiflora ‘Little Richard’, not patented, characterized by its non-variegated foliage and spreading to broadly upright, moderately vigorous growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered as a branch mutation and selected during May 2007 in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Zundart, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood stem cuttings since June 2007 in Zundart, The Netherlands has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.